Day 9

Woot Woot! Jesus in the hizzzouse!! Ok, I wont ever do that again. But ya know, that is how I feel after today!

The team met at the local christian bookstore that Brad Schielky (sp?) owns for breakfast and prep. They decided to bless us while we are out here and provide all of our meals. Saving money is rad.

About 11 we headed out to the fair. We weren't sure if we were going to be able to do our skits or not. So we grouped up at the booth Brad has rented at the fair. His ministry is heavily based around Living Waters (Ray Comfort) tracts. He has a big banner over his booth that says "Are you a good person? Take the test and get a $1". This works really well out here because the Mormons all thing they are good people. Their whole doctrine is based around them earning their salvation.

I was really, really tired. Most of you know that I am not a morning person at all. But this was a different tired. I'm sure it was spiritual. After we got to the fair, we started handing out tracts and walking people through the "good test". We found out shortly after that we couldn't do our skits in the fair area, but we could right across the street in a grass area outside of an aquatic center. So we decided to stick with the tracts and do the skit later in the afternoon.

Conversations were easy to get into. Mike, of course, was immediately in the trenches as were a few other team members. This is how Mike describes his conversations.

"I had alot of great conversations today. Even though they are very receptive, open and even seeming to understand, (the following is the answer he gave when I asked him to repeat for the blog, i like it best) there is a spiritual darkness to the gospel of Christ. Its like they are confused about the most basic simple things of Christianity. So we want to open their eyes. Prayer is our biggest weapon." (this is the answer he said first) its like they are a crab coming out of their shell but then slowly retreating, and you are like "no! don't go! come back!!"

After lunch, we went over to the grassy area to do our skits. We set up and I realized that we forgot to charge the speakers. So, half-way through King of Hearts, the sound started skipping and fading. Needless to say, it was a bummer to have that happen. But we got through it and attempted to share with the small crowd that had gathered. Mike had me go get an extension cord so that we could plug the speakers into the RV and do the skits later on.

I went to Walmart and picked up a 50 foot extension cord. The trip there was trying because I was so tired. I just wanted to go home and go to bed. As I walked around Walmart, I felt like a zombie. When I got back, the team was back at the booth, tracting and talking. Watching them encouraged me to snap out of it, and get to work.

While there was great conversation taking place, there was also great spiritual warfare going on. Half the team was exuberant, the other half was discouraged. The great thing was watching those who were discouraged read the word and stay in the Lords embrace. They were seeking the Lord in the midst of the trial.

One of the thing we learned today from Brad was that the LDS really like the word repent. When we challenge them on their sinfulness they respond with "that's what repentance is for. I sin I repent." But their definition of repentance is "my effort in my power will eventually attain righteousness for me." Brad share with us what he tells them...listen to this. "The problem for you Mr. LDS is that you keep repenting for the wicked deeds, but you have never repented for being a wicked person." Woah! That was good stuff.

After dinner, we came back to the boys house and just hung out for a hour or so. The team was exhausted from the work and the very hot day. It was almost 100 degrees here and we had no shade. We closed the night with a time of sharing and encouragement. The ladies went home and the guys got ready for bed. its my bed time now, but I'm too excited and awake to go to bed. Yes mom, I know, I should go to bed anyway. I'll do that.

God bless all of you for your prayers. They definitely were heard and answered all over us today.

- nathan

Day 8

Well now, today has been very very interesting!

Today was a travel day. We were relocating from Pleasant Grove to Logan in Cash County Utah. So, after getting up on time and getting ready the enemy started attacking immediately. I went out to get something out of the RV and the most...how do i say?...unpleasant aroma came wafting up through my nostrils. If the devil had a smell, I think that was it. Consequently, we were delayed in leaving since we had to clean out the RV.

Since we were picking up the girls at their mansion, leaving late put us behind in our travel schedule. We had intended to leave by 10, but didn't leave the boys house until 11. We lost the mapquest to the girls house and the GPS had outdated maps so the address the girls were at didn't exist. Jen ended up coming to escort us to the house. They were very excited by the fact that the boys had to rely on the girls for a second time to get to a destination.

We finally got on he road and stopped at Guitar center in Salt lake because I forgot to bring drum sticks. In addition, we found out that our blinkers weren't working. So Ben worked on the blinkers, I went into the store to get drumsticks. While we were there Mike and Allison got into a great conversation with one of the employees who was an atheist. At the end of the conversation the guy wanted more info about the gospel and mike got his email address.

2 hours later we got to Logan Utah. We went to the guys house first, dropped off their stuff, and then went to the girls house and did the same. After the we went to a local park to pray for the upcoming ministry.

This is where the spiritual attack started. Something came over the group and a heaviness descended. A couple of our girls were overcome with despair and started crying. One was tired of the spiritual battle. All this after the previous 7 days of unity, love, joy and good stuff. Mike and I spoke with the group. We worshipped, got into the word, and encouraged the group. It seemed that the Holy Spirit moved among us and brought a comfort to our spirits.

Then we went over to the county fair to meet with the ministry we are partnering with for the next two days. It started to rain as we arrived, but was manageable. A couple of guys from the group got permission from a cop there to open air preach. Right after they started, another cop ran up, told them someone had complained and threatened to write them a ticket. Next thing we know 8 cop surrounded the group and wouldnt let anybody near the other cops. It turns out 97% of this area is LDS (Mormon). They ended up letting everybody go with no tickets but a warning. If anybody the next day complains about our ONE ON ONE sharing, they will arrest us. Mind you, this fair is a un-ticketed public event. They cant arrest us, its illegal. Part of me hopes they try to arrest me. Of course my sensible side is praying against all that. 

By that point, it was getting late and the rain was getting worse, so we got our girls into their car to go home. The boys had to wait until they were off and ended up worshipping open air in the rain. The rain had become a torrent by this point. Anyway, Mike brought the RV up, the boys jumped in and we headed home.

Well, the GPS got us lost again, and after driving through a stop sign (we didn't see it, really) we got pulled over by the police. He was a really cool cop. He jokingly said that after seeing our California plates, he almost understood our California roll at the stop sign. He asked for Mikes ID and went back to his car. We prayed for grace. The cop came back and handed us Mikes ID and said "your destination is one block north." and DIDN'T GIVE US A TICKET! It turns out that there is one born again cop on the police force here and he may have been that one.

Pray for us. The spiritual attack is heavy right now.

-nathan

Day 7

We had a free day today. We intended to go up to a man-made lake east of us to rent some Jet Skis and have a fun day at the lake. But last night we were out until 12:30 am talking with LDS at Denny's so everybody was tired this morning. Instead of actually going somewhere we kinda just lounged.

The cool thing about that was that I got to bless the family who is letting us stay in their house. Their computer was down due to a virus. So, we bought them a new 500 gb hard drive and I reinstalled windows, and got the machine up and running. Ya know, fixing computers isnt really a skill I thought would be used much in the mission field. They were so incredibly blessed by it and so was I.

After dinner we spent some time to bless Steve and Linda Rorrick. They are leaving to go home tomorrow morning. They came with us and have been our cooks and drivers. But they brought so much more than that. Their example of humble servanthood has left a permanent mark on the whole group. We had the whole group share one thing they with the Rorricks about how they blessed them. Steve got really emotional, and so did the rest of us. It was a great moment on our trip.

We led worship at the Wednesday night service for Calvary Mountain view and joined the bible study. Pastor Joe gave a great study out of 2 Samuel 17. After that we came home and will be packing up in the morning to head out to Logan, Utah to witness at the county fair.

More duct tape on the air mattress.

- nathan

Day 6

Yesterday was difficult for Mike. He wants nothing more to street witness and get into good conversations with the people here. And it was frustrating for him to try so hard to go out and be met with a complete lack of opportunity. We spent alot of time in prayer and I encouraged him as much as I could. And he was encouraged, greatly. We are all learning that we need to trust the Holy Spirit, period. No matter what, our plans are at best a suggested framework. Its a gameplan we submit to our Lord expecting his alterations. Sometimes, He says, "looks good, lets go for it." Sometimes He says "let me make a few (or alot) of changes." Either way, when our plan meets with frustration, we have to trust the Holy Spirit and his leading.

Today we opened up ourselves to just that. We wanted to go out street witnessing, but prayed for a leading and guiding. We felt led to go to a local skate park to practice our drama's and witness to any who show up. When we got there it started to sprinkle. I was like, CMON ALREADY!! But instead of giving in to my flesh, I prayed for the rain to go away and the chance to share here. A ton of youth ended up coming to the park. Some came with their parents. Allison got to speak to a large group of kids, all boys. It was fun to watch. She walked over to two boys and sat next to them. She handed them both tracts and started to talk to them. Within minutes, like irresistible magnetism, about 8 other boys rushed over to where she was. I told her that I discovered the secret to gathering a large group of young boys. Its simply to be a cute girl. Since I'm not a cute girl, I chose to engage the older parents. :)

We also got to practice our skits which were watched by alot of the kids at the park. Mike got to speak with one parent who turned out to be a non-religious person. He shared the gospel of Christ with her and left her with some literature.

Later on we headed back out to Salt Lake City to participate in the Heart of the Matter television show (www.hotm.tv). This show is an outreach to the LDS that Shawn McCraney hosts every Tuesday night. We were invited to have pizza and participate in the prayer meeting that takes place before the show. In addition, we were to be part of the studio audience. But, as God would have it, Mallisa was asked if she would like to be a guest on the show itself and give her testimony. Well, after a little bit of nervousness, she agreed. It was awesome to see her give her testimony with boldness and passion to a television audience of 75000 households. I was back in the audience and I was nervous!

After the show, we went to Denny's (which happened to be the same one where I bought dinner for the two homeless Navajos) to sit and meet with people who had watched the show. There was one LDS girl who showed up that Mike got to speak with and LEAD TO THE LORD!! How rad is that! I've been on three other mission trips, which all had the goal of leading people to the Lord, but never actually got to. Now, we've had the opportunity to lead TWO people to Him! In the first week! Phenomenal!!

The other really great thing that has been happening, is that the guys on our trip are so in love with Jesus. Billy keeps leading us in worship in the car. He starts us off with "King Jesus is all.." and "You cant get to heaven..in Pastor Garry's car...you cant get to heaven...in Pastor Garry's .....caaaaarrrrrrrr....You cant get to heaven in Pastor Garry's cars, cuz Pastor Garry's car cant get that far..All my sins are washed away, I've been redeemed."

The unity that this team has is beyond incredible. No matter how the enemy has tried, we remain united by love. Respect runs rampant, the guys are gentlemen, the girls are ladies and everybody gets along. Praise God.

- nathan

Day 5

Monday morning. My air mattress has had a hole in it since Saturday night. Duct tape isn't working. The previous day was long and im tired. We get up early today because we have a very unique and interesting opportunity.

Two LDS seminary professors are willing to meet with us to dialogue and discuss the similarities and differences between our two faiths. For 2.5 hours we asked questions and they gave us very long, vague, wispy answers that never actually answered the questions we asked. I have to be honest, I was nervous and a little intimidated to talk two intellectual big wigs of the LDS faith. But after our talk, which was very graceful and courteous, I feel like Peter the ROCK! These guys couldn't even clearly defend their faith and THEY ARE SEMINARY PROFESSORS! At that point I felt like walking right onto the BYU Campus and start preaching! The sentiment was the same throughout the whole team. Almost ever team member mentioned that their own faith was bolstered by the talk. Praise God.

Later that day we decided to go street witnessing again. We heard of a local park about 20 minutes away. So off we went to proclaim the gospel to the lost and dying Utah-nians. Problem, we couldn't find the park. We searched and searched. The GPS (the girls call it the "guy pointing system") showed us three other parks. We went to each one and nobody was there. All we wanted to do was witness and we couldn't find any people to witness to. As we were driving, trying diligently to enforce the plan of going street witnessing, the Holy Spirit brought to my memory the story of Paul being prevented by the Holy Spirit from going into a certain area to preach. I shared this with Mike and we prayed for confirmation. The last park we went to was just as empty as the others.

Now, earlier in the day we had planned to have some team time but had postponed it to go out and pass out tracks. But it seemed the harder we tried to go out, the more our efforts were frustrated. So we went back to base camp and had the team time we tried to postpone. And let me tell you, that team time was incredibly fruitful. We needed that time. Again, God had reshaped our plans to accomplish what was most important for that moment.

We worshiped and went to bed. My mattress still has a hole in it. A large portion of my mattress is covered with duct tape now. All is well.

- nathan

Day 4

Today was a day of worship and witnessing. We traveled up to Salt Lake City for the Sunday morning service at Lord's Word church. Lord's Word is the church that Shawn McCraney started to feed the word to those who have come out of Mormonism, those who are still in it, and those believers who just want to study at the Lord's feet. Those who are still in it you may ask? Yes, believe it or not, there are LDS here that really hunger to know the truth of God's word. And they, under the threat of persecution, come to a Christian church to hear what the bible actually teaches. We led worship for them. As it turns out, this was a brand new experience for some of the LDS in the room. They were blown away at the sight of God's people worshiping him with abandon, lifting their hands, and singing out with their whole hearts. Pastor Shawn's comment to us after was "if this was the only thing you did on this whole trip, it would be totally successful."

After service we went to the local food court and passed out some tracts. What surprised us was that the people here were just like the people in So Cal. We expected their to be alot of LDS who, as we had been told, would be open to talk about the things of God. Instead we were met with violent opposition to the Gospel. Nobody wanted tracks, or they just gave them back. They didn't want to talk about God or anything to do with him.

We then we out to the streets. The area we were in was like an outside mall, somewhat like the 3rd street promenade at Santa Monica. I approached a lady who was setting up a table to sell some jewelry and handed her a track. Her response to me was "Ya, I've gotten one. Actually I've gotten all of them, the million dollar bill, the good test..etc." She then proceeded to tell me how I should be telling people about God's love instead of trying to make them feel guilty about being a sinner. She told me she was a Christian and that I'm doing more damage to the church than good. Mike joined me by asking "well, what is your opinion about the cross?" That really made her mad. She told us that the cross isn't the issue. That we aren't supposed to focus on the cross but on the loving relationship we have with God. She closed with "You judge me and tell me I'm a sinner and that isn't what God wants." Mike said to her "Aren't you judging us right now?" Angrily, she said "Yes, I am. so leave, leave now." We left. And I was discouraged. Street witnessing scares me. And it seems that every time I do it, the first person I speak to is venomous and bitter and mean. But God honored my perseverance later on.

We ended up at a local park to debrief and have a group devotion. As I started teaching, two homeless Navajo walked up and asked if they could join us. We welcomed them and they sat. But as I was teaching, they kept interrupting me with questions that had nothing to do with what i was talking about. He asked me if I believed they were Lamanites, which are one of the fabricated early American people groups named in the book of Mormon. At this point I was wondering if they were LDS plants sent to disrupt our devotion time. I looked around and imagined LDS hiding in the trees with binoculars and walkie talkies.

Mike pulled the guys away from the group so that I could finish without disruption. I told one of the guys that I would answer any questions after I was done. So we finished up our devotion and broke up to relax until our next appointment.

Well, i went over to talk with the two Navajo whom Mike was still speaking with. After ten minutes or so, the first Navajo, named Boyd, seemed to be hearing us. His buddy kept interrupting the conversation with nonsense so I told him to keep quiet, and I asked Boyd if he wanted to be forgiven of his sins, set free from his bondage of alcoholism, and be saved. He said yes, and we prayed with him right there.

Now, never in a million years would I have expected to travel all the way to Utah, having prepared to speak to LDS, and end up leading a homeless Navajo alcoholic to Jesus Christ. And get this, his first question after we prayed was "What about my friends?" I told him to share with them the same we shared with him. Ben gave him a bible to read and we started to pack up and leave. He asked us if we had any food for them. We gave them some of our snacks but he wondered if we had any meat. I asked them if there was a restaurant close and he indicated that there was a Dennys close. We drove over there and I bought them two steak dinners. When his buddy saw that we actually got them dinner, he seemed to realize the truth of what we spoke. he did receive Christ there, but a seed was definitely planted. Steak Dinner evangelism!!!

Please pray for Boyd.

After that we ate at a restaurant called "Wingers." I told the General manager that Mike's last name was Winger and that he might be related to the owner of the franchise (there are alot of them up here). It turns out that the owners last name is "Sleighmaker" and the reason he named it "Wingers" is because he liked flying planes. No discount on our meal, bummer.

That night we led worship at Lord's Word evening service and came back home to rest up for the next day.

God is good, amen?

- nathan

Day 3

Saturday, our first day of ministry in Utah. We had planned to participate in a work day at a local retreat center that needed alot of work. But as we were getting ready to leave, the Pastor Steve from Calvary Mountain View informed us that something urgent had come up and all the people at the retreat center had to leave. So that dramatically changed our plan. This was the first experience of God altering the plans we had laid out for the day.

Before we left, Pastor Garry had shared with the group about being flexible to the leading of the Holy Spirit. He shared with us that the people are more important than the plans. As you will see over the course of the trip, we learned alot about letting our plans mold, shape, and change according to the leading of the Holy Spirit.

Since we had already planned a work day, Mike decided to redirect our effort to helping Calvary Moutain View with any needs they had. It turns out they did. So we ended up cleaning their sanctuary in preparation for their Sunday services. We also did some landscaping on the planter in front of the building since they were a tad....in need. I think we overwhelmed them a bit as we finished up everything real quick. We kept asking them "okay, whats next?" I know they were blessed as were we.

We ended the day back at home since the next day was to be an early and long day.

- nathan